The Hershey Bears visit the Bridgeport Islanders Saturday afternoon at Total Mortgage Arena, with Hershey seeking to maintain its two-game win streak against the Islanders this season. The game, scheduled for a 3 p.m. EST start, will be broadcast on Antenna TV, WFVY-100.1-FM, and Fox Sports 1460-AM.
Hershey (27-25-6-2) is currently two points ahead of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the fourth seed in the Atlantic Division, according to Inside The Rink. The Bears are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Belleville Senators on Sunday, a game where they fell behind 2-0 in the first period despite a goal from Sonny Milano. Bridgeport (24-27-3-5), meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back shutout losses to the Charlotte Checkers, most recently a 2-0 defeat where Kirill Gerasimyuk stopped all 28 Hershey shots.
Both of Hershey’s goaltenders, Garin Bjorklund and Mitch Gibson, have secured wins against Bridgeport this season, according to the Hershey Bears official news release. The Islanders are facing increased uncertainty as the New York Islanders organization has announced its intention to relocate the AHL franchise to Hamilton, Ontario, for the 2026-27 season, pending league approval.
Hershey winger Bogdan Trineyev enters the game on a four-game point streak (3 goals, 5 assists) and is one goal shy of matching his career high of 14 goals from the previous campaign. He led the Bears in shots during their last game against Belleville, with seven attempts on net. Trineyev has four points (3 goals, 1 assist) in 12 career games against the Islanders.
For Bridgeport, Matt Luff leads the team in points (45) and assists (28), while Adam Beckman is the leading goal scorer with 22. The Islanders currently trail the Thunderbirds by one game and are tied with 56 points for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
Projected lines for Hershey include Milano-Leason-Trineyev, Cristall-Bongiovanni-Suzdalev, Bitten-Strome-Bohlsen, and Smith-Cruikshank. The defensive pairings are expected to be King-Belpedio, Gucciard-Chesley, and Schueneman-McDonald, with Gibson or Bjorklund in goal. Bridgeport’s projected lines feature Berg-Highmore-Luff, Eiserman-Kuefler-Foudy, Beckman-Maggio-Jefferies, and Terry-Thiesing-Drew, with George-Rowe, Odelius-Bear, and Mitchell-McWard on defense, and Tikkanen in net.
Ilya Protas leads the Bears in overall points (50) and goals (25), while Andrew Cristall leads the team with 32 assists. Henry Rybinski has a team-best plus-ten rating. Luke Rowe leads Bridgeport in plus/minus with a plus-nine rating.
Following Saturday’s game, Hershey is scheduled to host Bridgeport on Sunday, March 22nd.
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